Birds They Gotta Fly
by Mandrell
Summary: Clam finds a baby bird, who has fallen off his nest. Since he can't find the mother he decides to raise the birdie by himself. But when the bird finally wants to be on his own, Clam locks him in a cage, much to his friends' displeasure.
1. The Baby Bird

**Birds They Gotta fly**

**Chapter 1: The Baby Bird**

On a late afternoon it is business as usual in Camp Kidney. Dave and Ping Pong are playing dodgeball together with the Lemmings, Wilbert the beaver and Ignatious the hedgehog. Raj is sorting his record collection while Lazlo is doing some juggling with a banana, a pineapple and an orange. Edward the platypus is doing his polo training by riding Samson as a horse. "Faster, faster!" he commands. Clam however has decited to count the trees in the forest. Provided with a pen as well as a writing pad he makes his way. "266...267..." he goes through the trees. Finally he decides to have a break and sits down under tree number 268. But soon he falls asleep, still holding his writing pad in his hand while his tongue is hanging out of his mouth.

Suddenly a rustling is heard from a pile of leaves lying next to the tree. The rustling gets louder and louder and within the next moment also a weak tweeting is heard from inside the pile, making Clam wake up. "Ahm, what was that?" Clam asks himself. Then he discovers the pile and couriously moves the leaves aside. Under the leaves Clam discovers a small baby bird, who obviously has fallen off the tree, probably from his nest. The little rhino smiles and carefully sits the birdie up again, who fortunately seems to be alright. "Everything OK, little birdie?" Clams aks. The baby bird looks at him astonished and tweets slowly. "Goodbye!" Clam says and walks away. But the birdie follows him. The rhino turns around irritated. "Ah, not your mother!" Clam says and moves on. The little fellow keeps following him after all. "Not your mother!" the rhino is telling the bird again. But as soon as Clam continues his way, the small featherball is back on his tail. Clam stops and is just about to say something, when he is looking into the birdie's sad face. Obivously the cute fellow does not know where to go and is now looking at the little rhino entreating. Clam thinks for a moment. "OK," he finally says, "Clam your mother... for a while!" He carefully picks up his little buddy and puts the birdie under his scout cap. Then he heads back for Camp Kidney.


	2. Home Sweet Home

**Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home**

Back in camp Clam fetches some tools, boards and a bunch of branches and gets everything into the Jelly Bean cabin. Then he starts working. First he builds a small, round table. The birdie watches him while sitting in Clam's scout cap which is lying upside down on his bed. When the table is finished, Clam puts it beside the bed. Now he lays down the branches on it and starts building a nest for the birdie out of them, when he suddenly hears Lazlo and Raj returning.

Clam quickly puts on his scout cap with the birdie in it again. His friends enter the cabin. "Hi Clam!" Lazlo greets him, "everything OK?" "Ahm, yup, OK!" Clam confirms being slightly nervous. "Well, how many trees did you count, little buddy?" Raj wants to know. "Ah, trees?" his rhino friend wonders. "Yes, trees! You wanted to count the trees today! Did you forget?" "Ahm, no!" Clam takes out his writing pad. "268 trees!" he tells Raj. "Hm, that's strange. Slinkman said there must be at least a thousand trees in that forest!" the elephant wonders. Lazlo recognizes the new table. "Wow, Clam, did you build that?!" he asks exited. "Ah, yeah!" the rhino confirms, "Not a big deal!" "Not a big deal? It's fantastic!" Lazlo commends. "Ahm, Clam, your cap has slipped!" Raj realizes. "Oh, yes, Thanks!" Clam answers and carefully puts it in the right place again. At this moment the bird starts tweeting! "Ahm, Clam, your cap is ringing!" Raj says. "Clam call back!" his buddy assures. "Clam, what's the matter with you?" Lazlo wants to know. "Nothing!" "Really? Then why don't you take off your cap?" "OK!" Clam agrees and quickly takes off his cap, not thinking of the birdie, who is still under it! Lazlo and Raj are lost for words when they see the little guy sitting on Clam's head. "What, I mean who the heck is that?!" Raj asks. "Oh, isn't he cute?" Lazlo thinks. Their rhino friend starts sweating. "Ah..." he stumbles. "Clam, where does this bird come from?" Raj wants to know. "Forest! Found him!" Clam explains. "You found him? Where is his mother?" Lazlo asks. Clam shruggs. "Don't know. Maybe gone. Clam mother now!" He finishes the nest and carefully puts the small birdie into it. The baby bird quickly makes himself comfortable in it. Then he raises his head and rips off his mouth wide open. "Clam, I think little birdie is hungry!" Lazlo assumes. "Yes, Clam. You must get him something to eat!" Raj says. "OK!" Clam agrees, quickly puts on his scout cap and rushes out of the cabin. In a flash he returns with a giant pizza! "Whoo, hold on, little buddy," Lazlo tells his friend when he is just about to actually feed the birdie with it, "you cannot feed him with that!" "Ahm," Clam says perplexed, "what else?" "Birds eat worms," Raj explains to him, "you must get him worms! Lots of worms!" "Worms!" his rhino friend agrees, hands over the pizza to Raj and leaves again.

Clam heads for the big apple tree near the Scoutmaster's cabin. He kicks the log, so that all apples are falling off the tree and catches them one by one. Clam carries the bunch of apples back to Jelly Cabin. Now he and the birdie are sharing the fruits. While Clam is eating the apples, the birdie gets all the worms that are in them. The little fellow shows quite a good appetite. But finally both Clam and the bird are stuffed. Clam watches his friend smiling. "Clam gonna teach him everything!" the rhino tells Lazlo and Raj. "How do you know it's a he? Couldn't it also be a she?" Raj wants to know. At this moment the birdie produces a big burp. "Alright, good thing we settled that!" Raj says. Clam looks at his birdie, who seems to be tired. "Sweet dreams!" he says and intends to go to sleep himself. But his little fellow is shivering in his nest. "Maybe you should stuff out his nest some more!" Lazlo suggests, "Here, take these tissues!" He tosses a box of tissues to Clam, who at once uses them for stuffing out the nest. But the little guy still does not want to sleep. "Lullaby!" Clam thinks and starts singing "Rock-a-bye-birdie..." for his friend. But the only effect is that Raj is falling asleep at once, while the baby bird is still awake. But Clam has another idea. He quickly hops onto the nest for warming it just like a mother bird. And it works! The baby bird is falling asleep immediately. "Good night, Clam!" Lazlo says and goes to sleep himself. Still sitting on the nest Clam closes his eyes and falls asleep, too.


	3. Curious Platypuses and Caring Rhinos

**Chapter 3: Curious Platypuses and Caring Rhinos**

From now on the little rhino and the birdie are inseparably. Whereever Clam goes, he takes the baby bird with him in his nest. When Clam is in the mess hall, the birdie's nest always stands next to him on the table. While Clam is eating with one hand, he uses the other one to feed his little fellow with worms from a glass. The other scouts watch him astonished, but also admiring. But they stay away, since Clam does not let anybody get near the nest. When Chuck the pig and Lemuel the oppossum once enter the mess hall, he quickly puts his arms around the nest glaring at the two.

Edward the platypus watches the scene and when Clam gets up to fetch his friend a bowl of water some minutes later, he takes the chance of sneaking up on the baby bird to catch a closer look. Little birdie is sitting in his nest quietly waiting for Clam to return when suddenly Edward's face appears next to him. By looking at the cute guy, even the usually bad-tempered platypus must unintentionally force himself to a slight smile. "Hi, little birdie!" Edward says in a soft voice, which is not really typical for him, "My name is Edward! And I..." But the bird is afraid of the platypus and quickly ducks himself in his nest. "Hey, no need to hide, little birdie!" Edward tries to calm him down, "I'm your friend! How-How about a worm?" He grabs for the glass, but it slips off his hands and crashes on the floor, so that all remaining worms are able to escape. "Whoops!" Edward says. But the worms are his least problem now, because when he turns around, he sees an angry pygmy rhino standing next to him, energetically stepping its foot on the floor. Clam takes a big breath. "LEAVE...BIRDIE...ALONE!" he yells at the platypus. Edward hits the road at once. Clam grabs the nest and leaves the mess hall together with his birdie.

Lazlo and Raj catch up with them. "Clam, maybe you should not bring little birdie to the mess hall again!" Raj suggests. "Raj is right, Clam," Lazlo says, "why don't you stay with him and let us bring your food to the cabin?" Clam smiles. "OK!" he agrees. He then lets his friend have a look at the birdie. "Oh, he is so adorable!" Lazlo says. "Oh yes, you're really a sweet, little fellow!" Raj thinks. The birdie looks at them and starts tweeting. The Jellies bring him back to their cabin.

Later Clam is teaching the fellow about his natural enemies. Therefor he has placed a chalkboard in the cabin on which the most dangerous animals for little birdies are listed: Cat, dog, weasel, platypus. The birdie is looking up from his nest and listening to his teacher patiently as he is going through the list. "Cat!" Clam says and shows a photo of a cat to the bird. Then he starts acting like a cat by meaowing, humping his back and even licking himself. "Cat!" he repeats, "Bad for birdie! Stay away! Bad cat!" The birdie is tweeting to show that he has understood. "Dog!" Clam says now and shows a photo of a dog to his student. He then starts running through the cabin on all four legs barking and panting. "Dog! Bad for birdie, too! Bad dog!" Next in line is the weasel and at last Clam shows a picture of Edward to the birdie. The little fellow still remembers that strange individual from the mess hall and starts tweeting agitated immediately by seeing the photo. Clam puts the photo aside. But there is still one last photo left in the stack, which shows Raj! "Whoops!" Clam says, "How did that get in?" He quickly puts Raj's photo away. But the bird has already gotten the message. He starts tweeting agitated again and within the next moment he is pricking Raj's trunk! "Ouch!" the elephant cries out and backs off. "Nice job, Clam!" Raj says angered holding his trunk. "Ahm, Sorry!" Clam apologizes to him. He shows Raj's photo again to the birdie. "Raj friend! Friend of Clam and birdie!" he is telling him. The bird now calms down and lets Raj feed him a worm.

Days are passing. The Jellies are now taking turns in feeding the birdie, while they are having their own meals in their cabin. Sometimes Clam also wants to be fed with a worm himself by ripping off his mouth exactly like a baby bird. When the Jellies are outside for playing they are taking their feathered friend with them in his nest. Finally Clam also allows other Bean Scouts to get near the bird. Chip and Skip, the two dung beetles really enjoy feeding him with worms while the Jellies are playing ball. "Look, Chip!" Skip says by giving a worm to the little birdie. "Wow! Look how fast he's eating!" Chip says admiring, "I wish I could do that!" "Maybe we should also eat worms!" Skip suggests. Just then Edward is passing by, but he is still not allowed. Clam quickly clutches the nest again glaring at the platypus. "No! Birdie scared!" he tells Edward. "Phew! I don't care about you and your stupid birdie!" the platypus makes clear. At the same instant Edward sees a young raven in the grass. He quickly grabs the little bird and sets the raven up on his hand. "So, little guy," he says, "would you like to be Edward's birdie?" The raven thinks for a moment, but then decides to disagree by flying away croaking. "Quote the raven nevermore!" Clam states as he and the other scouts are laughing at Edward, who is grumbling while turning red in his face. Finally he walks away.


	4. Learning to Fly

**Chapter 4: Learning to Fly**

By-and-by the baby bird is growing and growing. Soon he is not carried around in his nest any more, but prefers sitting on Clam's scout cap instead. Clam thinks that it is now time to teach the little birdie how to fly. "Learning to fly!" he tells him when the two are just leaving the cabin. The birdie on his cap looks around astonished, obviously wondering what the rhino is up to. Having arrived in the woods, Clam looks for the highest tree and finally hops on its nearest branch. He climbs on to the top where he sets up the birdie on a branch.

Now comes the most difficult part. Clam starts hopping up and down on the branch spreading his arms like wings and waving with them. The bird is watching him interested and after some time he starts mimicing him by flattering with his little wings. "Good!" Clam commends, "Now faster!" He starts waving his arms faster and the bird mimics him again. After a while he is indeed able to hold himself in the air for a short moment. The bird starts tweeting agitated. "Good!" Clam commends. "Now fly!" he instructs his friend pointing to the end of the branch. But the bird is just looking at him questioning. Clam smiles and softly pushes the little fellow to the end of the branch. "Fly!" he says pointing to the sky. The bird looks down to the ground and the next moment he starts shivering and quickly backs off again. "OK, maybe should try something else!" Clam admits. He puts his little fellow on his cap again and gets off the tree.

Back on solid ground Clam lets the bird hop onto his hand and carefully sets him up on the floor. Now he starts waving with his arms again while running all around the place. The little birdie tries to catch up with him and starts flattering faster and faster. "Go on!" Clam tells him, but within the next moment the little fellow slips and keeps lying on the ground. Clam picks him up carefully. "Never mind. Try again!" he aminates his friend. This time it works better. The bird finally makes it holding himself a few inches over the ground permanently and gets exited again by twittering all the time. Clam looks around and when he discovers a small rock near to them, he gets an idea. He sets up the birdie on the rock and stays a few yards next to it. Then he spreads a finger and whistles. First the bird does not realize what the rhino actually wants from him, but when Clam starts hopping and waving with his arms again, he finally gets the point. Tweeting agitated he starts hopping and waving, too while spreading his wings and finally indeed tries to fly into Clam's direction. But when he has just rised up into the air, he stops flattering for a moment and crashes back on the ground immediately. But the bird does not give up so fast. He hops back on the rock, spreads his wings widely and starts flattering with them faster and faster. Now it works! He lifts off and keeps himself in the air! The next moment he is already landing on Clam's finger. "Perfect!" Clam calls out in joy, "Now on tree again!"

He lets his friend sit down on his cap and climbs the tree again. Back on the top Clam sets the birdie up on the branch and softly moves him to the edge. But the bird is still afraid of the height. He turns back to Clam and looks at him questioning. While the little rhino is still thinking what to do next, a wind gust hits the tree and the little birdie loses his balance! Within the next moment he falls off the tree! "Birdie!" Clam shouts frightened, but in a flash he knows what to do. "Fly, Fly!" he shouts waving with his arms. The birdie keeps falling down, when suddenly he is spreading his wings and starts flying! Clam quickly gets off the tree again to watch his friend. The bird keeps flying in circles and finally lands Clam's finger again. "Good!" Clam commends him, "You made it!"

At this moment Lazlo and Raj are rushing by. "Flying!" Clam tells them enthusiasticly. "You are flying?" Raj asks confused. "No! Birdie!" Clam shouts joyusly. The birdie on his hand starts tweeting agitated again and waving with his wings as if he wanted to affirm the truth of Clam's statement. "Show them!" Clam says and tosses the little fellow up into the air. This time the bird is flying a larger round all over the place. Finally he decides to land on Raj's fez. "Haha, cute, little birdie!" Raj says, although he is feeling a bit uncomfortable with the bird sitting on his head. Clam whistles, so that the bird leaves Raj's fez and comes back to him for landing on his finger. "Clam, you did it, you really did it!" Lazlo shouts exited, "he is flying, he is flying!" "Flying!" Clam confirms smiling and being proud. Just then the bird is spreading his wings and obivously wants to fly away. But Clam quickly grabs him and keeps holding him between his hands. "Enough for today!" he decides and hastens back to Jelly Bean cabin, leaving his perplexed friends behind.


	5. In the Cage

**Chapter 5: In the Cage**

Lazlo and Raj look at each other irritated. The next moment a strange rumbling is heard from inside, as if somebody was working around with a hammer, a saw and an eletric power drill at the same time. When the rumbling finally has stopped after a few minutes, Lazlo and Raj enter and are in for a shock! In spite of little birdie's nest, a steel bird cage is now standing on the small table! The birdie is sitting inside on a wooden bar tweeting, while Clam is watching him fascinated.

"What on earth is THAT?" Raj shouts appalled. Clam looks up. "Bird cage!" he says being all smiles. "I know that this is a bird cage!" Raj tells him, "But what I don't know is why you're shutting the little birdie in there!" "Wanted fly away!" the rhino tells him disgusted. "Of course he wanted to fly away! He is a bird!" the outraged elephant tries to straighten things up. "Yeah, Clam's bird!" the little rhino makes clear. "But you cannot keep him in that cage!" the elephant shouts angrily. "Why not?" Clam asks back. Raj sighs. "Because he is a wild animal! And wild animals are not ment for keeping them in cages or whatever! He will soon become miserable in there!" "Not miserable! See!" Clam claims by pointing at the bird, who is tweeting happily. "Maybe he is not miserable now, but that will change!" Raj tries to explain, "Besides your cage is much too small for him. He cannot move freely in there!"

Clam thinks for a moment and realizes that Raj maybe could be right. "Ahm, bigger cage if birdie still grow!" he quickly promises. "Maybe you won't get to see that any more!" the elephant assumes. "What do you mean?" "Oh, you will find out!" "Find out what?!" Lazlo takes Raj aside. "Raj, let me try!" he suggests. He walks over to the little rhino. "Clam, what Raj is trying to tell you is that it's now time for little birdie to leave his nest. To explore his environment. He wants to see the world! All he sees here is his cage. Imagine your parents would keep you in your room all the time!" "Yes, Clam," Raj interferes, "he does not need you any more!" But his friend begs to differ. "Needs Clam!" the rhino blares aloud and forcefully clutches the cage. "Stay away!" Clam snarls at his friends. "Gee, alright, already!" Raj gives up, "Keep your bird if you like! But don't say we did not warn you! Come on, Lazlo, let's go! He fails to see it anyway!"

From now on Clam spends the whole day sitting in front of the bird cage and watching his bird. The birdie keeps tweeting all the time, singing complete songs for Clam. Clam accompanies him by whistling, so that they often sing together in chorus. Sometimes the bird even takes a bath in his water bowl, much to the rhino's pleasure. Raj is looking at the duo thoughtfully. "Maybe I was wrong. Little birdie seems to be really happy here." he realizes. "Yes, Raj, but I still think he shouldn't be in that cage the whole time." Lazlo says, "If only we could convince Clam to let him fly around in the cabin." Raj sighs. "It's strange, isn't it?" he thinks, "First Clam is spending all the time on teaching little birdie how to fly and now he is not even allowed to fly!" Their rhino friend however does not care about them at all. He just keeps sitting in front of the cage and watching his bird misty-eyed, obviously not taking any notice of his further environment. But the idyll won't last for long.


	6. Who is Right?

**Chapter 6: Who is Right?**

One day when Clam has just finished cleaning up the cage by putting a new newspaper, fresh sand and water into it, he suddenly hears some tweeting from outside the cabin. The rhino turns around astonished. The next moment a big bird appears at the window, who looks almost exactly like Clam's. Obviously it is the mother bird! The birdie in the cage gets exited. He starts bouncing on his bar and waving with his wings agitated while tweeting all the time. The next moment his mother is flying into the cabin and finally landing on top of the bird cage. She is very happy that she has finally found her son and so is the little birdie. The only one who is not happy is the little rhino!

"Get lost!" he shouts at the mother bird fiercly shaking his arms to scare her away. The mother bird flies outside again and Clam quickly closes the window. But when he turns around, he is looking into the angry faces of his friends, who have just returned. "Ahm, what's up?" Clam asks. "You know exactly what's up!" Raj tells him. "Come on, Clam," Lazlo says, "let me open the gate and set him free!" He walks over to the bird cage, but the rhino gets into his way. "No! Clam's bird now!" Clam shouts agitated, quickly throwing a blanket over the bird cage and grabbing it. The little rhino intends to leave the cabin together with the cage, but Lazlo holds him back.

"Hold it right here, little buddy!" he says, "You cannot keep the poor birdie in that cage forever! He is supposed to be free! To fly around whereever he wants. Come on, let him return to the free wilderness where he belongs!" But Clam shakes his head. "No! Clam's bird now!" "He is not YOUR bird!" Raj reminds the stubborn rhino. "Clam's... bird... now!" Clam blares aloud. He puts down the cage for a moment and plants himself in front of his friends. "Clam found him, fed him, raised him! Gave all love! Clam's bird now!" The little rhino makes another try to leave the cabin with the cage, but Lazlo thwarts his friend and blocks the door. "Wait a minute, Clam!" he shouts, "It's true, you raised him! You taught him how to fly! And I'm sure the little fellow is very thankful and so is his mother! But you did not lay the egg where he hetched from, did you?"

Finally Clam puts back the cage on the table carefully. He removes the blanket and the birdie is tweeting again slowly. Clam watches his little friend misty-eyed and starts to whistle. The bird tweets back one more time, but then keeps silent. Clam smiles and puts a bit of birdseed into the cage. But the little fellow does not want to eat. He just keeps sitting on his bar silently and does not look very happy. Lazlo and Raj sigh by looking at their rhino friend, who is still watching his bird fascinated as if being in trance.


	7. The Decision

**Chapter 7: The Decision**

The sun rises and a new day is broaching. The first sun rays hit Jelly Cabin and tickle Clam's skin, who is still sleeping peacefully, making him laugh silently in sleep. The little rhino stretches out and gets up.

Being full of joy Clam removes the blanket from the bird cage. "Good morning, little birdie!" he says. But his little birdie is looking even worser than yesterday. He is sitting on his bar with his head hanging, just looking unhappily. Just then Lazlo wakes up, too and quickly realizes what is going on. "Clam," he advices his rhino friend, "I think little birdie looks real sad. Don't you think?" "Not sad! Just hungry!" Clam claims being totally sure. He gets some more bird seed and puts it into the cage. Then he smiles at his little fellow and whistles a bit, as if he wanted to animate him to eat. But the bird does not move at all. Clam wonders and finally gets the whole box of birdseed. "Clam! Stop it! Don't you see he does not want to eat?" Lazlo shouts. But Clam just keeps on pouring all the bird seed into the cage until the box is empty.

Meanwhile Raj is awake, too. Lazlo looks at the elephant and gives him a sign. Raj nodds his head to show Lazlo that he has understood. Then Lazlo walks close to the cage and twinkles at the little birdie secretly. The bird twinkles back shortly, as if he wanted to tell Lazlo that he would be ready, too, whatever the monkey may be up to. The very next moment Lazlo quickly opens the cage gate. "No, not open! Will escape!" Clam shouts, but in a flash Raj grabs the little rhino and holds him tight! The bird hestitates first, but then quickly hops out of the cage. Clam is petrified with horror to see his little fellow being on the other side of the cage now. "Nooo!" he shouts, sounding more desperate than angry actually, as the bird enjoys flying around in the cabin. The little rhino starts whining and first, small tears are flowing. "Was Clam's bird, Clam's bird..." Clam slowly whimpers.

His little fellow meanwhile has made himself comfortable on the totem pole, tweeting happily again. Lazlo and Raj look at each other, but they are at one that they have no other choice. While Raj is putting his arms around Clam to prevent him from interfering, Lazlo quickly opens the window, so that the bird is able to spread his wings and fly away. "Goodbye, little birdie!" Lazlo shouts behind him, "I hope you'll be happy now!" Turning green like a frog in his face, Clam is staring after his bird. He is just flabbergasted and at the same instant the little rhino starts crying bitterly. "No! Clam's bird! Gone!" Clam cries and finally breaks loose from Raj. In a flash he rushes outside.

"Wait, little birdie!" Clam shouts, but the bird is already gone. Clam sits down on the ground broken-hearted and now big tears are rushing from his eyes. "My birdie! My sweet, little birdie!" the little rhino is crying on and on. Lazlo and Raj are standing a few metres away from the scene. "Lazlo, somehow I feel guilty!" Raj tells his friend. "Me, too," Lazlo must admit, "but that was our only chance! I'm sure we did the right thing, Raj!" "I'm not so sure, Lazlo!" Raj says as Clam is still crying.


	8. All About Birds

**Chapter 8: All About Birds**

Later when all the other scouts have already finished breakfast, Clam is still sitting in the mess hall poking in his bowl of cereals on and on. From time to time he flips one cereal on the floor to feed a couple of little sparrows, who have congregated there and keep picking the cereals. The little rhino is very depressed and feels lonesome.

Finally Clam leaves the mess hall and sits down under a tree. Next to the tree a young woodpecker has trapped his wing under a stone. When seeing Clam, he starts twittering agitated, trying to get the rhino's attention for helping him out. But Clam does not even realize him and keeps sitting under the tree sighing and looking sad. "Ungraceful birds!" he grumbles. The woodpecker, whose wing is still stuck, starts clamouring impatiently while he tries his best to free himself, obviously not willing to accept that he is now supposed to pay for Clam's bird having flown away. Luckily Lazlo and Raj are approaching just then and Lazlo frees the bird. The woodpecker first checks on his wing critically, which fortunately seems to be alright, and then looks at Clam angrily, before he finally flies away. Clam does not really care at all. Lazlo and Raj walk up to their friend. "Hey, little buddy!" Lazlo greets him, but the rhino does not respond. "Ahm, can we get you something?" the monkey asks, "maybe some ice cream or a cold drink?" Clam shakes his head. "No, Thanks!" "Well, why don't we play something?" Raj suggests. "Clam not want to play. Just birdie back!" Clam says in a sad voice and walks away. "No more play with Raj!" he blares at the elephant by looking over his shoulder.

On his way Clam meets the Squirrel Scouts Patsy, Nina and Gretchen. Patsy is carrying a cute, white kitty in her arms. "Hi Clam!" she says, "Want to pet our kitty?" But Clam is just glaring at the kitty. "Nooo!" the enraged rhino exclaims, "Bird eater! Away!" The kitty looks at Clam questioning and meaows slowly while shaking her little head, just as if she wanted to tell him she would not eat birds. But Clam fiercly shakes his arms to scare away the girls with their kitty. "Gee, alright, already!" Patsy says and they leave as the rhino is still glaring at them.

Later Lazlo and Raj return to Jelly Bean cabin with a big package. Clam is sitting on his bed hanging his head. "Hey, Clam, we have a present for you!" Lazlo says and gives the package to the little rhino. Clam starts unwrapping it curiously. It contains a coloured, stuffed toy bird made of plush. Clam looks at it and is not happy at all. "Well, how do you like it, Clam?" Raj wants to know. But Clam just throws the stuffed bird on the floor and runs out of the cabin crying. "Birdie! Want my birdie!" he whines. Raj looks at Lazlo saddened. "Maybe it was not such a good idea to get him this stuffed birdie," he thinks, "we should have bought him a doggie or something like that." "Gee, Raj! It could be rather difficult to find a doggie that fits his size!" Lazlo says.


	9. A Job Well Done

**Chapter 9: A Job Well Done**

Meanwhile Clam has arrived at the edge of a high cliff. Shedding his last tears he stops and looks down. By seeing how far it is going down, he must gulb unintentionally. At this moment his friends are catching up with him. "No, Clam! Don't do it!" Raj shouts frightened.

Suddenly they hear a tweeting from high above in the sky. It is the mother bird! She keeps flying in circles, obviously carrying something in her woddle. Finally she comes deeper and drops it in front of the little rhino, before she rises high up to the sky again. "Ahm, what's that?" Clam asks himself and curiously picks it up. It is a tail feather! "Feather!" Clam states and takes a closer look. He sniffs it and suddenly is all smiles again! "Birdie! Feather from birdie!" he shouts, jumping up in joy. Lazlo puts his arm on the little rhino's shoulder and softly moves his friend away from the cliff. "See, Clam! Little birdie and his family haven't forgotten about you!" he says. "Look!" Raj shouts pointing to the sky. They hear a tweeting again, but this time it is the little fellow! He flies up to them and finally lands on Clam's scout cap. "Birdie! You're back! Back!" the little rhino shouts almost driven to tears again. Clam spreads his finger and the bird hops onto it. "My cute, little birdie!" he says and gives his friend a slight kiss on his woddle.

But at this moment he sees the rest of the bird's family appearing at the sky, including his mother and three brothers and sisters. The bird looks at Clam questioning. "Goodbye, little birdie!" Clam says and tosses the little fellow up into the air. The bird spreads his wings and catches up with his family in no time. "Wow! Look at him go!" Lazlo is impressed, "Hey, Clam, you really did a great job on teaching him how to fly!" "Yes, Clam!" Raj confirms, "I'm really proud of you!" "Proud!" Clam smiles as he is waving after the birds.

Some time later a special prize ceremony is held at the open air theatre where all scouts have convented. Slinkman is standing at the lectren. "And for the courage and not to mention the patience of both rescuing and raising a lost baby bird, it is my honour to present to our fellow camper Clam: The official Camp Kidney bird training badge!" Clam, who is looking very proud, raises a big cheer by the other scouts as Slinkman attaches the badge to his uniform. Scoutmaster Lumpus however is lost for words. "I just can't believe my eyes! How comes that a Jelly Bean actually is earning himself a badge?! I wonder what will happen next?" the moose asks himself. "Scoutmaster Lumpus! Look!" Lazlo shouts at the very same moment, pointing at the Scoutmaster's cabin, where an eagle is buisy building a nest right on top of the chimney! "Baby eagles!" Clam is already looking forward to and cuts a caper. "Oh, that's just great. Me and my big mouth!" the moose swears.

The next day Lazlo meets Clam at the dumpster next to the mess hall. Clam is just throwing away his bird cage. "Hey, Clam!" Lazlo says. "Hey, Lazlo!" "Ahm, Clam, you did not really want to jump off that cliff, did you?" the monkey asks. "Ah, no! Thought birdie down there, but was just old bubble gum!" Clam explains. "Do you miss your little friend?" Lazlo wants to know. "Ah, yeah. A bit. But will overcome!" Lazlo puts his arm on his little buddy's shoulder. Clam then wants to throw away the nest, too when suddenly the woodpecker is walking by. He starts clamouring again and finally kicks Clam in the shin, so that at last the rhino is taking notice of him. Clam hands over the nest to the woodpecker. He grabs it and walks on without even saying Thank you or anything like that.


	10. Credits

**Credits**

Clam is paying a visit to the eagles' nest, bringing a bunch of flowers. But by approaching the Scoutmaster's cabin he quickly gets captured by the mother eagle, who rises high up to the sky carrying the blaring pygmy rhino with her.

"Hey, let Clam off!" Clam shouts disgusted. Finally she lets him off so that he tosses down into the eagles nest. "Oh, great!" Clam grumbles, sitting between the eagle eggs and not being very amused. At this moment two of the baby eagles are hetching. "Babies!" Clam immediately is looking forward to see them. "Cute!" he thinks when the baby eagles have finally removed themselves from their shells completely. But now they are throwing a strange look at the little rhino.

"Ah, why looking at Clam like that?" he wants to know, when the eagles are already reaching for his uniform jacket and start pricking it with their small woddles. "Stop! Clam no snack!" Clam is telling them disgusted and quickly stands up looking over the edge of the nest. But it is a long way down to the ground. Clam gulbs. Now it starts rumbling inside the other two eggs, too. "Uh-oh!" he thinks.

Just then his friend, the mother bird, shows up, heading for the nest by nosediving. Clam quickly hops on her back and she flies away with him. "Thanks!" Clam says and the mother bird tweets happily. Meanwhile on earth the young woodpecker is seeking revenge, too and starts chucking down the chimney including the eagles' nest by forcefully pecking it with his woddle on and on! The chimney starts shaking to and fro fiercly, much to Lumpus' displeasure! "Hey, stop it, you cheeky devil!" the moose is angrily shouting from the cabin window, but the woodpecker does not listen to him at all. Finally he has made it and the chimney crashes. While all the eagles are fleeing, the woodpecker is putting his own nest onto the pile of stones and sits down in it satisfied.


End file.
